Did They Get The Best Player On Your Team Correct?

Best player on every MLB team 

Los Angeles Angels - Mike Trout
 
What else can be said about Trout at this point? It is a moot point to state that he’s the best player in the game, because it goes without saying. At the age of 24, the conversation about how good he can be is done, rather it is about just how legendary he can become. He continued to push his own boundaries again last season, setting career highs in home runs and OPS last season, while also remaining in the AL top 10 in batting average, runs scored and leading the circuit in slugging percentage as well.

While many make light of the fact that his stolen base total declined down to 11 last year, it is far from a loss of a skill set. Rather, it just shows the unavoidable evolution of his game from an ultra-catalyst at the top of the order and into a multi-skilled middle of the lineup bat. Because while his stolen base total dropped, so did his strikeout rate, while his walk rate climbed. Simply put, he is getting better overall because for as much raw talent as he possesses, he is gaining maturity & discipline to go along with it, which is truly a frightening thought. Thus far in his career, Trout is yet to finish any lower than second in an MVP race and he has essentially become the measuring mark for whether another player is worthy of the award instead of him. Because that is what the best player in the game should do annually, and he has yet to fail to live up to his role.

Los Angeles Dodgers—Clayton Kershaw

2015 was the worst season that Kershaw has produced in his past three.
And now that we have that out of the way, it was also a year where he finished third in the NL Cy Young race (his lowest finish since 2010), struck out 301 batters (the most in Majors since Randy Johnson in 2002) and also finished in the top three in innings pitched, ERA, WHIP, win percentage and complete games. However, by his otherworldly standards, this was a downturn in his overall production.

Thus is the life when you are the best pitcher of your generation: a season that would qualify as a career year for most looks like a slight bump along your unflinchingly dominant way. Entering his age 28 season, Kershaw carries three Cy Young Awards, the 2014 NL MVP, 114 wins, five career All-Star selections, a no-hitter and an all-time MLB record for most consecutive years leading the MLB in ERA, a four year streak broken last year—when he finished third instead.

His sustained dominance has placed him far and away from the rest of the pack atop the mound now. Kershaw cannot be fairly compared next to his contemporaries; he’s simply better placed next to where those already in Cooperstown stood at the same age.

Oakland A’s—Sonny Gray

It is not always easy to for a top flight young pitcher to develop amid a team with questionable or always shifting surroundings, but Sonny Gray has proven to oblivious to this issue throughout his young career with oft-realigning Athletics. Because over his first three years in the Majors, Gray has regularly been the reason why the A’s are able to take some of the risks that they do in working their roster out: because they know Sonny has their back.

The young Oakland ace continued his assent up the ranks of elite pitchers in the game in his second full season on the pro bump. Gray finished third in AL Cy Young voting in a year where he posted his league’s third lowest ERA (2.73), topped 200 innings for the first time, reached 14 wins for the second time in as many years and led the league in shutouts.

And in the fact that he is a brilliant ground baller producer, as well as fielder who is often able to create outs for himself via his own glove, and Gray is one of the most self-sufficient pitchers in the game. While no one’s long-term future is secure with in Billy Beane land, Gray likely is the strongest foothold in the organization today.


San Diego Padres—Matt Kemp

Matt Kemp began 2015 as the dispatched former cornerstone of the Los Angeles Dodgers, traded off within his same division as a part of half salary dump/half creditability grab deal that satisfied both sender and recipient.

However, Kemp continued to regain the stride he had begun to reclaim in his final year in LA during his first season as a Padre. He put to bed the concerns about his durability that had plagued him a few years ago, playing in 150 games for the second time in as many years. And one thing that is indisputable about Kemp: when he is healthy, he hits. And now he is the best thing the Padres have to offer, as they begin a new phase of a different type of rebuild this year.

Kemp met the 100 RBI mark for the first time since 2011, while topping 20 home runs, 30 doubles and 150 hits for the second consecutive year. He even had a slight re-emergence of speed on the base paths as well, reaching double digits steals for the first time in 5 years as well. Entering only his age-31 season, Kemp stands to continue on the path of being a steady middle of the order bat that is short of being the superstar he once was, but being more than just a role player as well.

San Francisco Giants—Buster Posey

There is no player that has been involved in more peak parts of the game over the past six years than Buster Posey. And with it being another ‘Giant Year’ (also known as an even numbered season – in which the Giants have won the past three World Series titles), Posey is likely to once again be one of the most important players in baseball this summer.

The class of the position by far, few players combine more raw talent with inherent leadership and intangible presence than Gerald Posey does. His perennial standard has reached such a clip that they are better compared to those already in Cooperstown than most of his peers, and he still yet to reach his 30th birthday. Buster led all MLB catchers in hits (177), batting average (.319, 4th in the National League), RBI (95) and OPS (.849). All of this combined saw him produce just over six Wins Above Replacement –three more than any other catcher.

Already the owner of three World Championships, an MVP, a batting title, three All-Star appearances, three Silver Sluggers and a .310 career average (the 4th highest of all-time for a player that has been primarily a catcher), it would seem that Posey has it all. And that’s because he does, but he is only halfway through the race and is just now approaching his prime.

Complete list (FanSided.com)